DTC brands aren’t feeling the Black Friday pressure In the five days following Thanksgiving, there's usually a wave of retailers offering anywhere from 20% to 50% off of their products. This year, that wave will feel more like a never-ending tsunami.
As its ecosystem grows, companies are becoming reliant on Shopify for more parts of their business Eight years ago, startups turned to Shopify primarily to sell products online. Now, a startup might turn to Shopify to help fulfill orders, get some cash for their business, or use its point of sale system when it opens a physical store. As the startups that launched on Shopify, like...
Vertical marketplaces are the next hot investment area as DTC brands look for more places to sell online For many direct-to-consumer brands looking to sell and ship their products through someone's website besides their own, there's still only one dominant choice for them in the U.S., and that's Amazon. Of course, there are plenty of other places that DTC brands can sell through -- Walmart, Target, and Macy's...
‘On a lot of people’s minds right now’: DTC startups are in a holding pattern until after the election One of the dominant moods of 2020 has been paralyzing uncertainty, and it's been particularly prevalent this week as Americans wait for the results of the presidential election. The election isn't the only thing on direct-to-consumer startup executives' minds -- after all, once the election is over, Black Friday is...
‘More than a moment’: SPACs give DTC startups a new potential exit strategy There's a new most-talked about acronym in the DTC world these days: SPAC, which stands for special purpose acquisition company. SPACs give startups an alternative way to go public, without going through the traditional IPO. In a SPAC, a group of individuals raise money in order to acquire a company...
Why some DTC brands’ Amazon strategies have changed Many direct-to-consumer brands have long held off on selling through Amazon. But they can't completely ignore its orbit, as Amazon still sets the conversation in e-commerce. There's a laundry list of DTC brands that have still held off on selling through Amazon -- Glossier, Warby Parker, Allbirds and Away to...
In a crowded holiday advertising market, DTC brands are rethinking their digital strategies In conversations with a handful of direct-to-consumer startup executives about their holiday marketing plans, the biggest concern cited was figuring out when was the right time to run holiday ads. Both to ensure that customers order far enough in advance so that they get their products by Christmas, and to...
‘Flying blind’: How DTC CEOs are preparing for the holidays Despite experiencing record e-commerce sales during the coronavirus, DTC CEOs are trying to prepare for how to handle some worst-case scenarios over the holidays. Specifically, fears over shipping delays and how to compete with deep discounts are keeping them up at night. As they've had to do throughout the coronavirus...
Fearing a holiday email onslaught, DTC startups turn to text messaging to promote sales There's no shortage of "last chance" sales hitting email inboxes these days, as desperate retailers like Gap and Macy's are trying to squeeze some much-needed revenue out of shoppers. But that also makes it harder for younger startups to grab customers' attention, when every retail company in the world is...